Articles written by J.M. Schell

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About me - J.M. Schell

J.M. Schell is a father of two, husband to one and lives in one of those Rocky Mountain states that people all over the world visit or wish they could.

He is a licensed residential real estate appraiser who has dallied in the written word, with limited success,

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Education > Educational Philosophy Should all parents, regardless of income, be able to choose where to send their children to school?: 1 of 24
School Choice: Why Tell the Truth When You Can Muddy the Picture?First, those hoping to muddy the issue hijacked this topic. "School Choice" is the term commonly used to speak about vouchers, not whether a district allows you to send your kid to any school within the district, or even to cross to lines. Those working within t... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Climate Change Why do so many people believe in catastrophic global warming?: 2 of 18
Global Warming/Climate Change is Belief, but also PoliticsIt's really quite simple: so many "believe" in anthropogenic global warming/climate change (AGW) because they have been carefully led by the triumvirate force of politics, media and education systems to do so. In this way, AGW is no different from any other cult. Peopl... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Presidential Elections 2008 Who's the best 2008 candidate for fighting global warming?: 1 of 9
Doom, Political Style.Whatever happened to Global Warming? Well, it stopped. The mild warming the planet had been experiencing, topping out at a massive 1-degree F average increase (most of which occured in the 1930s) stopped um, cold in 1998. So, true believers in Anthropogenic Climate Change (AGW) have been doing yeoman's w... More..
Education > Primary School Issues Funding for school lunches: Should there be help for those who cannot afford them: 1 of 8
Ban the Free Lunch! While there are some hard-hearted Scrooges out there who'd like to see free breakfast and lunch programs (and probably free after school care, too) done away with entirely as a frivolous waste of taxpayer funds, they are few. But why argue against a position that's actually being taken when it's so much ea... More..
Education > Educational Philosophy Have public schools failed us: 6 of 45
That About Which We Must Not SpeakI watch science programs on TV all the time. One thing that strikes me as these programs trot out various scientists and their students, colleagues, lab mates and fellow researchers is how many of them speak with non-American accents. I was watching a program about NASA's Mars Phoenix probe a... More..
Education > Educational Philosophy No child left behind (NCLB) and the education of our children: 2 of 14
Facilitate, shmacilitate! Try teaching for a change!I laugh out loud when I read teachers complain about how they are not permitted to "facilitate." During the 1967 opening remarks of the National Education Association's national conference, the then president of this large, powerful labor union said (paraphrasing), that teac... More..
Personal Finance > Real Estate Understanding foreclosures: 2 of 13
Taking Advantage of the Foreclosure "Crisis"In the early 1970s, after the go-go 1960s, President Nixon vainly hoped to curb inflation and head off a looming recession by freezing prices and interest rates. Overnight, inflation skyrocketed and when interest rates were unfrozen, they immediately followed the rising inflation an... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Political Issues America: Home of the (once) free: 2 of 13
In this political season, Americans may be hearing the bromide, "there are no differences between these guys and the others!"Hogwash. While it's true that once they get to D.C., many politicians are happy to be buddy-buddy with the enemy, many others are not. And the ideals between left and right, liberal and conservative, De... More..
Education > Education (Other) Does competition in schools and colleges lead to higher quality work?: 3 of 18
It's always surprising to me when I run across a classroom (K-12) teacher who is competitive and in favor or competition. Even more surprising, given my experience in the public schools as a teacher and then a substitute teacher, is a teacher who actually understands and (claims to) has somehow been able to implement any lev... More..
Politics, News & Issues > Economic News Commentary: Gas price hikes - Where's the outrage?: 1 of 6
Gas prices are rising across America for a number of reasons including the falling value of the dollar, investor speculation and our limited refining capacity. The primary reason gasoline prices are rising however, is because Americans aren't the only ones buying gasoline any longer. And a large part of the reason that's happ... More..